At the beginning of the interview, Closener was asked about the first round of the French presidential election and the moderate results of 1.7% of votes for the local socialist party. Closener acknowledged that it hurts to see their French counterparts struggle and noted that they failed to learn the right lessons from previous defeats.
The LSAP politician also finds it concerning that a third of the French population opted for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Closener thus expressed concerns about the second right of the vote, warning that incumbent President Emmanuel Macron may have missed too many opportunities to respond to the concerns of his people.
Closener also highlighted the fact that leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélanchon only told his supporters to not vote for Le Pen rather than explicitly saying to vote for Macron.
The LSAP leader expressed her support for the tripartite agreement, which she believes to be “fair and reasonable”. However, she also stressed its temporary nature and said that discussions around taxes still need to be held.
Closener finds it regrettable that the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL) stepped back from the agreement. OGBL president Nora Back lamented that LSAP failed to stand in for working people, which Closener strongly refuted.
The LSAP politician elaborated that even though the party and the union have similar values, they still differ in the nature of their organisation. She also announced that she already extended an invitation to Back to discuss matters in private.
Regarding the postponing of the indexation, Closener explained that the tripartite agreement ensured greater financial support to people in need than the indexation would have done. She also expressed satisfaction over the way in which all three coalition parties worked together.
Closener also addressed her party’s plans for a tax reform. She explained that LSAP initially planned on conducting a reform in the current legislative period, but had to postpone it due to the pandemic and its economic implications.
Still, the party remains determined to readdress the issue as the country is moving out of the pandemic. Closener concluded: “If a party manages the country well during a crisis, then people know that they can also rely on them in normal times. And you can be sure that we will continue doing everything in our power to advance social justice.”
